FILM SCREENING & LIVE FORUM

The forum will discuss sensitive and pressing issues, for example how 90% of the Malaysian rainforests have been replaced by hydrodams and palm plantations to benefit a small group of elite politicians, the draconian measures introduced in the Security Offences Act 2012 (SOSMA) whereby detainees under the Act may be locked up for an unlimited period of time without trial and how $651 million ended up in the private account of the Malaysian Prime Minister just before the 2013 General Election

FORUM PANELISTS

Clare Rewcastle Brown (will be there in person) is a British investigative journalist. Born in the former British Crown Colony of Sarawak (currently part of Malaysia), she is the founder of Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak which are openly critical of the Barisan Nasional-led state government of Sarawak. Following a series of exposés by Sarawak Report regarding the 1MDB scandal, an arrest warrant was issued by a Malaysian court in August 2015 for Rewcastle Brown. Interpol clarified that they had rejected the “Red Notice” application from Malaysia.

Maria Chin Abdullah (via Skype) is the Chairperson of the Malaysian anti-corruption movement Bersih, a coalition of NGOs advocating for reforms of the electoral system in Malaysia in order to ensure free and fair elections. Founded in 2006, the coalition has organised three rallies calling for a transparent electoral process and raising awareness of what they claim are flaws of the electoral system. Maria was detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) on the eve of the Bersih 5.0 rally. More than 15,000 protested on the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

The Borneo Case:

Documentary filmmakers Erik Pauser and Dylan Williams spent five years intimately following the trail of an unlikely group of activists whose aim is to investigate how profits from the illegal logging that has annihilated more than 90% of the Malaysian Borneo Rainforest have been money laundered into property portfolios all around the world.

A review in Sydsvenskan, one of Sweden s biggest newspapers said: The Borneo Case is a hair-raising thriller that brings to light crimes of an enormous scale and moral decadence, told through personal stories of friendship, love, revolution and engagement. Its main characters couldn´t have been better written in a fiction film.